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Monday, August 10, 2009

Obama's New Website to Fight for Health Care

The Obama administration has launched a new Web site to battle what it calls "wild rumors" about the health care reform plans being pushed through Congress -- including an invitation for the public to tattle on any other "myths" they come across.

It comes a week after the White House asked the public to send in "fishy" information about health care reform.

The Web site, activated Monday, uses the same set-up as the "Fight the Smears" page the Obama campaign maintained last year to battle rumors seen as potentially damaging to his candidacy.

The new "Reality Check" site features a half-dozen alleged rumors about health care reform, responding to them with videos of top aides rebutting them.

"We're offering the site and tools to empower individuals across the country to take this content into their own hands and share it among their networks," a senior administration official said.

"That's the sort of bottom-up process that got us to the White House, and it's what's going to deliver meaningful change to the health insurance system."

In one clip, an aide to adviser Valerie Jarrett disputes the claim that health care reform will lead to "rationing." Kavita Patel says rationing already occurs in the form of private insurers determining how to fund clients' health care, but said the notion that government will interfere in health care is "laughable."

In another clip, Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council, disputes what the White House calls a "malicious myth" -- the idea that reform would lead to euthanasia for seniors.

That claim is rooted in a provision in the House bill that provides Medicare coverage for an end-of-life consultation every five years. - FOX News Story

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